“Even us Demons have trouble with the eternal night,” Aaron said quietly. “Satan Spawn are everywhere, and most of them don’t care about what color uniform you wear, as long as they are able to steal your energy or knock you back out of this world.”
The sound of loud noises, of feet pounding on floors, could be heard above. Somebody yelled. Eden gasped and looked up.
“I better leave before Sergeant Dale comes down here to get you. I heard he was the sergeant in charge of the squad who is coming to pick you up,” Aaron said. “Got to remain undercover, at least until I can get you out of here.”
Eden nodded. “Be careful, Aaron. I don’t want to know what will happen if you get caught.
“Neither do I.” Aaron grimaced.
****
Eden lingered by the prison cell door, even though the soldiers did not come get her. At her side, Adanna stared blankly ahead, a sad expression on her face. Eden reached over and grabbed her hand. The two of them laced fingers.
“It’ll be okay,” Eden said. “We’ll get you back to your sister, all right?”
Adanna nodded.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs caused them both to look over. Eden saw a group of ten Demon soldiers heading right toward her cell. Her heart filled with fear as she looked at them. How was she supposed to escape this? She had no doubt that when she reached the actual prison there would be many more men ready to contain her. Already, she felt as though she was suffocating.
The head guard who had a golden sword pendant on his chest stepped forward and looked at her with narrow eyes. Eden knew this was the Sergeant Dale Aaron had spoken of. His mouth was a thin line and his beard was black and tufty. He glared at Eden as if she might suddenly sprout a second head and try to devour him.
“Don’t make any sudden moves,” Sergeant Dale said. “Do not struggle. Do not try to escape.”
Eden frowned and stepped back. There was no way she would try to escape now under such heavy guard, not unless she didn’t have any other choice. She glanced to her right and exchanged looks with Adanna, who still held her hand.
Sergeant Dale unlocked her door and held it open, waving her out with one hand.
“Come through,” Sergeant Dale said.
Both Eden and Adanna stepped forward, but he pushed Adanna back by her shoulder and she let go of Eden’s hand. Eden froze, feeling as though her heart had been ripped out.
“Not her,” Sergeant Dale said. “Just you.”
Eden wasn’t sure what she had expected, but being separated from Adanna was not it. Though she felt fear shoot through her soul, she shook her head and grabbed Adanna’s wrist, tightening her grip. She didn’t want to let her go. Not now. Not after she had made a promise and had learned Adanna was the key to saving the world.
Sergeant Dale frowned and stepped into the cell. When he tried to pull Eden away from Adanna, Eden thrashed and accidentally hit him in the face. Eden stared at him, stunned, as he glared at her accusingly.
“Grab the girl,” Sergeant Dale said. “Watch her. She’s dangerous.”
The nine remaining men split up and swarmed the cell. Eden felt one pair of hands fasten around her waist and another grabbed her arms. Three other men had Adanna now, yanking her away from Eden. Adanna still reached forward, desperately trying to grab her hand.
“Adanna, no,” Eden yelled. “Adanna. Adanna, please. Let us stay together. It’s all I ask for. Please.”
Eden was already being pulled away, out of the cell. One of the soldiers threw her over his shoulder. She kicked and thrashed, pummeling him.
“Adanna,” Eden said. “Adanna, Adanna.”
Her cries went ignored.
The soldier carried her up the steps and onto the deck of the ship, where she stopped fighting. Her eyes widened in horror at what the Demon continent, Infernum, looked like. Endless dead lands spread out before her, dark brown and cracked from the heat. Eden was strongly reminded of flecks of dead skin. The only sign of vegetation was the occasional blackened tree with no leaves, stretching its branches toward the sky as if screaming for water.
The ship bobbed on crimson water and the air stank like rotten eggs. Eden looked into the water and swore she saw something move beyond the surface besides heat bubbles, but she could not be certain. Eden whimpered and struggled again. The man who carried her swore and dropped her to the deck with a heavy thud.
“What are you doing, Corporal Dawson?” Sergeant Dale asked. “Get her back on your shoulder now.”
“I can’t, sir. She struggles too much,” Corporal Dawson said, as Eden glared at him.
“Then tie her up.”
Before Eden even had time to blink, she was painfully thrust against the side of the boat and pushed onto her stomach. Corporal Dawson tightened rope around her wrists, then he spun her around and glared at her with angry brown eyes. She gulped and wriggled beneath his glare.
“Do not kick me again,” Corporal Dawson said. “Even if you manage to escape on the way to the prison, there are far worse things than us out there. They’d be happy to eat a little girl like you.”
“I’m not a little girl,” Eden said.
“You’re a scrawny creature,” Corporal Dawson said, smirking at her. “You look like a little girl to me.”
He seized Eden around her waist and yanked her back to the rest of the soldiers. She bit her bottom lip and chose not to speak again as she had made too much trouble already. If she had been good, had walked out when she was told, then maybe the soldiers would be less angry with her and she would have a higher chance of escaping. Now, the soldiers were on their guard.
If only they hadn’t take away Adanna. What are they going to do with her? She imagined soldiers beating Adanna across the face and tried to fight down the feelings of horror. Sargent Dale grabbing her arm brought her back to reality.
Eden bit her lip as she was immersed in the line of soldiers so there were five in front of her and five behind her, keeping her from escaping. Corporal Dawson pushed her forward, and the group began to move toward the edge of the ship. When they reached it, the group paused.
“Five go down first, then the girl,” Sergeant Dale said. “The final five will follow after.”
Throwing his leg over the side of the ship, Sergeant Dale dropped down and disappeared from view. Horror filled Eden. I’m not going to have to jump down, am I? This ship is high. If she did have to, she guessed it would be the least of her worries. She was about to be tortured in the scariest prison in all of purgatory.
The group headed forward again as more soldiers moved to go over the side. Finally, when it became Eden’s turn, she looked down the ship wall and saw, to her relief, there was a rope ladder which led down to a wooden dock below. The jump wouldn’t be far. Unfortunately, the relief was short lived.
“Go on,” Corporal Dawson said, forcing her forward.
“My hands are bound,” Eden said. “I cannot climb down the ladder with bound hands.”
An evil grin crossed Corporal Dawson’s face, and he pressed a hand against her neck. She shuddered in disgust at his touch, wishing he would let her go.
“Sir, the prisoner has her hands bound,” Corporal Dawson said. “She can’t get down this way.”
Sergeant Dale looked at her with a smirk. “Then I’ll guess you’ll just have to toss her down. We’ll try to catch her. Maybe.”
Oh, no. Eden’s eyes widened and she stepped away from the side, shuddering. It was a long drop and she was not prepared for it.
“Oh no, you aren’t going anywhere,” Corporal Dawson said.
Corporal Dawson grabbed her by her waist, hoisted her up, and dangled her over the ledge. She couldn’t help herself. She screamed in fear. The drop had to have been at least twenty-five feet, and she had never been fond of heights. Her eyes widened as she stared down and saw Sergeant Dale standing underneath her with laughing eyes. She didn’t trust him to catch her. Chances were good she was going to hit the wood. Hard. Would she survive it? Sh
e wasn’t so sure.
“Sergeant, here she comes,” Corporal Dawson said, and then he released her.
As she fell, the air whistling around her, she screamed in fear. The drop was over before she could blink, and she found herself in Sergeant Dale’s arms. She shivered in fear and was frozen in place.
“Oh, poor thing, I think you frightened her,” Sergeant Dale said, smirking. “Now get your butt down here so we can make it to the prison.”
As the remaining men climbed down the rope ladder, Sergeant Dale peeled Eden off of himself and pushed her back. Eden, shuddering, stepped away. One of the other Demon soldiers gave her a pitying look but she ignored it. She stole a fleeting glance back at the boat and found herself wishing what she thought she never would — she wished she was back in her prison cell.
Once all of the men were back on the ground, Sergeant Dale said, “Forward.”
The group once again began to move. Eden stared up at the sheer black sky and experienced a shiver of foreboding which had nothing to do with the fact she was being marched toward a prison with no hope of escape. Once they stepped off the dock, Eden looked down at the dry, barren earth and swore she felt the ground move beneath her. It was as if the world had shifted. She stopped moving, feeling nervous, and hung her head.
“The ground moved,” Eden said, glancing at Corporal Dawson with pleading eyes.
“No, it didn’t,” Corporal Dawson said, prodding her in the back. “Stop one more time and I’m kicking you forward. Understand?”
“But I—”
“Move,” he ordered.
Eden stole a worried look at the water and gulped. Just moments before, she could swear she had seen something coming from there, too.
Chapter Two
Though they forced her to march forward, Eden still could not shake the feeling she was being watched by more than just the soldiers who surrounded her. She kept staring over her shoulder, certain that through the darkness she would see red eyes peering at her. Instead she saw nothing but earth all around her. Though that should have been comforting, it was not.
As Eden walked forward, she looked in the distance and saw a fine white mist coating the dry, barren earth and stopped, gasping. White faces filled her vision. The last time she had tangled with a Raider, the horrible pale-faced Satan Spawn, she had been overcome by Morsus, a disease of the soul which caused her to relive awful experiences again and again.
“Keep moving,” Corporal Dawson said.
“Raiders,” Eden said, just as the white mist overcame their legs like an ocean of pale white.
In the front of the pack, Sergeant Dale said, “Equip your lanterns.”
All of the soldiers dug in their packs and pulled out glowing blue lanterns. Eden stared and realized these glass beakers were filled with some sort of bugs. She had seen these lights on the outskirts of cities before, but she had never known what lit them. As Eden looked away from the light Dawson held, she watched the mist shrink away from the lantern’s glow but never completely disperse. What is it about the lights they dislike so much? She found it odd such a small thing could fight away such powerful creatures.
As Eden walked, watching the Raiders’ mist while entranced, she stepped on a crack on the ground and once again felt something shift. She stared at her feet and knew there was no way she was imagining things this time. Something was underneath them. If these soldiers, who obviously knew the continent well, weren’t prepared for whatever it was, then it was something bad. Something they had never seen before.
“The earth moved again,” Eden said, eyes darting to Corporal Dawson’s face.
“Keep moving,” Corporal Dawson said.
“No, I felt the shaking too. It was frightening,” said the Demon soldier who had given her the sympathetic look earlier. “Right beneath my boots.”
Sergeant Dale must have been listening to their conversation because he said, “Party, stop.”
Everybody stopped and began to look around. Eden glanced nervously at the white mist and then frowned at it. She could hear crumbling earth in the distance.
“Maybe we should run,” Eden said.
“Shut up, girl,” Corporal Dawson said. “We give you the orders. If Sergeant Dale tells you to stop, you stop.”
“Kimber, Trent,” Sergeant Dale said. “Take your lamps and look around. See if you spot anything that could be a problem for us. Losing this girl would put us in big trouble with Commander Donovan.”
Sergeant Dale’s eyes lingered on Eden.
The two men exchanged looks, then they stepped forward into the darkness and the mist. They stepped forward into the darkness and the mist, the vapor separating beneath their feet. As Eden watched, hairline cracks covered the ground beneath them. There was the sound of the earth moaning beneath their feet. Oh, no. They have to get out of there.
One of the soldiers moved to the left and the other moved to the right, walking through the white mist. There was the sound of loud crunching, a bang, and then both of the Demons’ lanterns went out at the same time. The world went black and loud screams filled the air.
“What’s going on?” Corporal Dawson asked, grasping Eden’s shoulder. “This has never happened before. What is it?”
Eden heard the ground crack beneath her and felt the world move again. Two pairs of strong arms grasped her around the waist and flung her backward, into the white mist. She yelped and rolled, seeing white faces all around her. She was encased by them. Trapped. One of the lanterns appeared in front of her, and the white face of a Raider disappeared with a whisper. It was Sergeant Dale.
“Get up,” Sergeant Dale said, seizing her arm. “Get up, now.”
Then the earth trembled again, but this time, the earthquake did more than cause hairline cracks. The earth to the left of her broke apart at the plate, and Eden watched as half of the troop fell into a quickly growing massive hole in the ground. She yelled in horror as she watched the kind soldier wave his arms in a windmill motion seconds before he toppled backward and into the massive, gaping hole. She heard him scream for a moment and then nothing.
“No,” Eden whimpered.
“Come on,” Sergeant Dale said, holding onto her arm and forcing her to turn. “If something happens to you, whatever is out there is going to be the least of my worries. Keep going.”
Eden was forced forward, though she kept casting looks over her shoulder. Now Sergeant Dale was the only one with a lantern, but Eden could hear screams of soldiers as the mysterious Satan Spawn attacked. What kind of Satan Spawn is that? She gazed up at Sergeant Dale, fear causing her soul to tingle, and saw his eyes were also wide and his mouth was open. She knew then he had no idea what was out there either, which further enhanced her terror. If he didn’t know what was out there, then how was he supposed to fight it? She would much rather fight a known enemy than an unknown one.
Eden got her first glance of the prison as they ran up the hill. It was highlighted by thousands of lanterns to keep Raiders at bay; the walls were high and made from the same orange sandstone that the ground appeared to be made from. All around the prison, hovering as if waiting, was the same white mist of the Raiders. Yet Eden would rather be in the frightful prison right now then out here.
“Come on,” Sergeant Dale said, urging her forward again.
As Eden ran, she felt the earth move beneath her again and began to lose her balance. To her left, she heard the sound of shuffling. A cold breath was in her ear, breathing straight into it. She shook off Sergeant Dale’s arm, leapt to the left, and rolled seconds before the ground cracked beneath her and the plates once again began to split.
The sound of a lantern breaking filled Eden’s ears, and then she heard Sergeant Dale’s yell of fear. As the earth stopped shaking, she gazed over the side of the plate where it had cracked and saw him dangling by his fingertips over the ravine. All she would have to do was flee, and he would fall into the pit. He deserved it. Eden remembered what he had done to her earlier, while leaving the boa
t.
“Then I’ll guess you’ll just have to toss her down. We’ll try to catch her. Maybe.”
Being tossed had frightened her out of her mind. But yet…
“Please,” Sergeant Dale said, looking up at her wide large eyes. “Help. If I try to pull myself up, my hands will slip.”
Eden couldn’t leave him. She reached down, seized his wrists, and began to pull him backward. Eden knew she never could have pulled him up had she still been alive, but souls didn’t have muscles or weight anymore, so she managed to help him over the edge.
The two of them stared at each other once she had him standing and upright. Sergeant Dale rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Thank you.”
Eden nodded.
Looking down, Eden spotted hairline cracks beginning to form beneath her again, and she could hear the sound of heavy breathing somewhere close. Then came a loud, massive roar which was like no other she had heard in her entire life or afterlife. It was deep. Throaty. Mostly, it was just angry. The Raiders then appeared before them, a glowing white army.
Sergeant Dale unsheathed his sword and then pulled out a bottle of liquid. Holy water. Eden watched as he poured it on the metal of his sword and then grinned at Eden.
“It’s not just for healing,” Sergeant Dale said.
After seizing her hand, Sergeant Dale stepped forward and swung at the swiftly forming herd of Raiders. He connected with their chests. The Raiders he hit made loud, high-pitched wails. They dissipated into mist again, but they did not re-form like Eden expected they would.
The two of them began to run again, and the mist did something strange. It grew thicker. Denser. Eden felt as if she was trying to run through water. She threw a panicked look at Sergeant Dale, wishing she knew what was going on. This was horrible.
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